Fastening strap assembly and foam article including same

ABSTRACT

One aspect of the present invention provides a fastening strap assembly for used in a foam article. The fastening strap assembly includes a substrate having two sidewalls each formed along one side thereof in a longitudinal direction and spaced apart from each other; a substantially fishbone-shaped fastening member disposed between the sidewalls and adhered to the substrate, the fastening member having an elongate central rib and a plurality of fastening parts laterally extending from either sides of the rib and longitudinally spaced apart from each other, each fastening part having a plurality of hooks formed on a upper surface thereof; and a magnetic layer disposed between the substrate and the fastening member. The fastening strap assembly of the present invention has a unique sideway bending/curving function. Another aspect of the present invention provides a foam article, such as a seat cushion, including the sideway-bendable fastening strap assembly.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a sideway-bendable fasteningstrap assembly for used in a foam article, and a foam article, such as aseat cushion, including the fastening strap assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A hook-and-loop fastener is a well-know type of fastener and because ofits easy engaging/disengaging characteristic it is wildly adapted in awide variety of fields that need to detachably fasten two articlestogether. Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a hook-and-loop type fasteningstrap 1 used in a seat cushion of a car or a seat cushion of a sofa fordetachably fastening a seat coverings (not shown) to a seat includes asubstrate 2 made of a material that allow foam material to penetrateinto the voids of the substrate material, such as non-woven fabric orfibrous fabric. This hook-and-loop type fastening strap 1 furtherincludes a magnetic material layer 3 coated on the substrate 1 and afastening member 4 bonded to the magnetic material layer 3. Thefastening member 4 has a plurality of hooks 5 formed thereon and has awidth narrower than that of the substrate 2. The substrate 2 has twolongitudinal sidewalls 6 each formed along the sides of the fasteningmember 4 and having a height greater than a height of the hooks 5, so asto prevent the foam material from entering the spaces between the hooks5 during a foaming process of a seat cushion manufacturing.

Another form of hook-and-loop type fastening strap 1′ used in a seatcushion is shown in FIG. 2 and includes a substrate 2, a magneticmaterial layer 3, and a fastening member 4. Instead of having twoprotective sidewalls, this fastening strap 1′ includes a protectivelayer 7 that directly and detachably engages with the hooks 5 of thefastening member 4 to provide a protective function that prevents thefoam material from entering the spaces between the hooks 5 during thefoaming process of a seat cushion manufacturing.

Although the above-mentioned hook-and-loop type fastening straps used ina seat cushion of a car or a seat cushion of a sofa may provide afunction of detachably fixing the seat coverings onto a seat cushion,they have drawbacks and application limitations. For instance, thefixing between the above-mentioned prior art fastening straps and theseat cushion is provided merely by the joining force created by thepenetration of the foam material into the voids of the substratematerial, and thus an unexpected separation between the fastening strapsand the seat cushion may occur due to insufficient joint forcetherebetween.

Additionally, because the above-mentioned prior art fastening straps areunable to bend or curve sideway, they can only be used in seat cushionsthat have substantially straight fixing grooves. For seat cushionshaving curved fixing grooves, extra processes need to be taken to allowthe above-mentioned prior art fastening straps to be applied. Forinstance, additional cutting molds having specific curvatures that matchwith the curvatures of the curved fixing grooves of a specific seatcushion to which the fastening straps are to be applied need to bedeveloped to cut the fastening straps into shapes having desiredcurvatures. However, this is not cost effective because a specificcutting mold needs to be developed for a curved fixing groove of a seatcushion, and if there are a number of curved fixing grooves of differentcurvatures in one seat cushion then a number of different cutting moldsare needed to cut the fastening straps into desired shapes. Thus, theapplicability of the prior art fastening straps is limited.

Therefore, there exists a need in seat cushion industry for a fasteningstrap assembly that is able to provide a strong bonding between thefastening strap and the seat cushion, and is capable of bending orcurving sideway so as to be applicable to seat cushions having straightand curved fixing grooves without any extra processes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above-mentioned disadvantages/problems associated withthe existing fastening straps used in a seat cushion, one object of thepresent invention is to provide a fastening strap assembly used in afoam article that is able to provide a strong bonding between thefastening strap assembly and the seat cushion, and is capable of bendingor curving sideway. Another object of the present invention is toprovide a foam article that includes the fastening strap assembly.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a fastening strapassembly is provided which includes:

a laterally stretchable/compressible substrate having two sidewalls eachformed along one side thereof in a longitudinal direction and spacedapart from each other;

a substantially fishbone-shaped fastening member disposed between thesidewalls and bonded to the substrate, the fastening member having anelongate central rib and a plurality of fastening parts laterallyextending from either sides of the rib and longitudinally spaced apartfrom each other, each fastening part having a plurality of hooks formedon an upper surface thereof; and

a magnetic layer disposed between the substrate and the fasteningmember.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a fasteningstrap assembly is provided which includes:

a substantially fishbone-shaped fastening member having an elongatecentral rib and a plurality of fastening parts laterally extending fromeither sides of the rib and longitudinally spaced apart from each other,each fastening part having a plurality of hooks formed on an uppersurface thereof;

a laterally stretchable/compressible substrate having a substantiallythe same fishbone shape as that of the fastening member and beingdisposed under the fastening member and bonded thereto; and

a protective layer having a substantially the same fishbone shape asthat of the fastening member and disposed above the fastening member tocover the fastening member, and having a magnetic material layer coatedon an outer surface thereof,

wherein the substrate, the fastening member and the protective layer arebonded together along a periphery of the fastening parts of thefastening member and perforations are provided in the protective layerand magnetic material layer along the bonded periphery thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a foam article isprovided which includes:

a foam body; and

at least one fastening strap assemblies of the above-describedembodiments of the present invention bonded to the foam body.

Features and objects of the present invention other than the above willbecome clear by reading the description of the present specificationwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a prior artfastening strap structure used in a seat cushion;

FIG. 2 a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating another prior artfastening strap structure used in a seat cushion;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a fastening strapassembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic end view of the fastening strap assembly shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a fastening strapassembly according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic partial cross-sectional end view of the fasteningstrap assembly shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a modified fasteningstrap assembly of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a mold for forminga seat cushion;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view showing a seat cushion includingthe fastening strap assemblies of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic top view showing the sideway bending/curvingcapability of the fastening strap assembly of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 3-10 in which preferred embodiments of thefastening strap assembly of the present invention and a seat cushioncontaining the fastening strap assembly are illustrated to describe thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a fastening strapassembly 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 4 is a schematic end view of the fastening strapassembly 10 shown in FIG. 3. As shown in these two figures, thefastening strap assembly 10 of the present invention includes asubstrate 11 which has two sidewalls 13 each formed along one sidethereof in a longitudinal direction and spaced apart from each other,and two side wings 14 each extending out laterally at a lower portion ofa sidewall 13 respectively. In this embodiment, the substrate 11 is madeof, for example, a foam material, a non-woven fabric or a fibrousfabric. In other embodiments, the substrate 11 may be made of anymaterials that can be laterally stretched/compressed and can be bondedwith the foam material. A magnetic material layer 15 is coated on afloor surface of a recess portion 12 of the substrate 11 in order toattach the fastening strap assembly 10 in a mold for molding a seatcushion during a seat cushion molding process.

The fastening strap assembly 10 according to this embodiment furtherincludes a substantially fishbone-shaped fastening member 20 which isdisposed on the substrate 11 between the sidewalls 13. The fasteningmember 20 includes an elongate central rib 21 and a plurality offastening parts 22 laterally extending from either sides of the rib 21along a length of the rib 21 with adjacent fastening parts 22 beingspaced apart a distance from each other. Each fastening part 22 has aplurality of hooks 23 formed on an upper surface thereof. A lowersurface of each fastening part 22 along with a lower surface of the rib21 are bonded to the recess 12 of the substrate 11 so as to bond thefastening member 20 to the substrate 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the centralrib 21 has a width W1 and a height D3 measured from the lower surface ofthe substrate 11 to a top surface of the rib 21, wherein the height D3of the rib 21 has to be greater than the width W1, i.e. D3>W1, so as toprovide an appropriate sideway bending/curving ability to the fastenermember. This dimensional feature of the rib 21 and the space betweenadjacent fastening parts 22 together give the fastening strap assembly10 of the present invention a sideway bending/curving capability. Inaddition, the height D3 of the central rib 21 is smaller than or equalto a height D1 of the hooks 23 measured from the lower surface of thesubstrate 11 to a top of the hooks 23, and a height D2 of the sidewall13 measured from the lower surface of the substrate 11 is greater thanthe height D1 of the hooks 23 in order to provide a protection to thehooks 23 to prevent the foam material for the seat cushion from enteringthe spaces between the hooks 23 during the foam molding process of theseat cushion.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, a number of through holes 16are formed in the side wings 14 of the substrate 11 at positionscorresponding to the fastening parts 22 of the fastening member 20 toallow the foam material to enter these through holes 16 so as to createan anchoring effect and provide an extra mechanical bonding forcebetween the fastening strap assembly 10 and the seat cushion in order tomore firmly bond the fastening strap assembly 10 to the seat cushion. Inaddition, although not shown in FIG. 3, the side wings 14 of thesubstrate 11 may have cut-outs formed at positions corresponding to thespaces between the fastening parts 22 to provide additional sidewaybending/curving ability to the fastening strap assembly 10.

Next, a fastening strap assembly 50 according to another embodiment ofthe present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6,wherein FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the fastening strapassembly 50 and FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional end view of thefastening strap assembly 50.

As shown in the figures, the fastening strap assembly 50 mainly includesa fishbone-shaped fastening member 60, a substrate 51 disposed under thefastening member 60, and a protective layer 70 disposed above thefastening member 60. In this embodiment, the substrate 51 preferably hasa fishbone shape which is substantially the same as that of thefastening member 60. In addition, similar to the substrate 11 of theembodiment described with FIG. 3, the substrate 51 is made of, forexample, a foam material, a non-woven fabric or a fibrous fabric.However, other materials that can be laterally stretched/compressed andcan be bonded with the foam material may be used as well.

In this embodiment, the fastening member 60 is substantially the same asthe fastening member 21 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, that is, thefastening member 60 includes an elongate central rib 61 and a pluralityof fastening parts 62 laterally extending from either sides of the rib61 along a length of the rib 61 with adjacent fastening parts 62 beingspaced apart a distance from each other. Each fastening part 62 has aplurality of hooks 63 formed on an upper surface thereof. A lowersurface of each fastening part 62 along with a lower surface of the rib61 are bonded to the substrate 51 so as to bond the fastening member 60to the substrate 11.

As shown in FIG. 5, the protective layer 70 has a fishbone shape whichis substantially the same as that of the fastening member 60 so as tosubstantially cover the fastening member 60. The protective layer 70preferably is made of materials the same as those of the substrate 51,such as a foam material, a non-woven fabric or a fibrous fabric.However, other materials that can be laterally stretched/compressed andcan be bonded with the foam material may be used as well. Alternatively,the protective layer 70 may be made of a material different from that ofthe substrate 51. For instance, the protective layer 70 may be made of anon-woven fabric and the substrate 51 may be made of a foam material.

As shown in FIG. 6, the substrate 51, the fastening member 60 and theprotective layer 70 are bonded together along a periphery of thefastening parts 62 of the fastening member 61 by means of, for example,adhesive bonding or thermal fusing bonding, to seal the hooks 63 betweenthe substrate 51 and the protective layer 70 to thereby preventing thefoam material for the seat cushion from entering the spaces between thehooks 63 during the foam molding process of the seat cushion. A magneticmaterial layer 72 is coated on an outer surface of the protective layer70 in order to attach the fastening strap assembly 50 is a mold formolding a seat cushion during a seat cushion molding process.Additionally, perforations 74 that penetrate the protective layer 70 andthe magnetic layer 72 are provided along the bonded periphery of theprotective layer 70 (see FIG. 5), to allow the protective layer 70 to bepeeled off after the seat cushion molding process and to reveal thehooks 63 of the fastening member 60.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing another fastening strapassembly 50′ which is a modified embodiment of the fastening strapassembly 50 shown in FIG. 5. In this modified embodiment, in addition tohaving a similar structure as that of the fastening strap assembly 50described with and illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the substrate 51 of thefastening strap assembly 50′ further includes side wings 52 formed atpositions corresponding to the fastening parts 62 of the fasteningmember 60 and each side wing 52 has a through hole 54 formed therein toallow the foam material to enter these through holes 16 so as to createan anchoring effect and provide an extra mechanical bonding forcebetween the fastening strap assembly 10 and the seat cushion.

Next, by referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, a seat cushion 80 including theabove-described fastening strap assembly according to another aspect ofthe present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, a mold 90for foam molding a seat cushion has magnets 91 disposed at positionsplanned to place the fastening straps and the fastening strap assemblies10 are placed at the positions where the magnets 91 are disposed withthe hooks 23 of the fastening strap assemblies 10 facing the mold 90,and thus the fastening strap assemblies 10 can be held in positionsduring the seat cushion molding process by the magnetic attraction forcebetween the magnetic layer 15 of the fastening strap assemblies 10 andthe magnets 91. After the foam molding process is completed, a seatcushion 80 including the fastening strap assemblies 10 of the presentinvention may be formed, as shown in FIG. 9. Although in this embodimenta seat foam cushion 80 is used as an example to illustrate that thefastening strap assembly of the present invention may be applied in aseat foam cushion, in fact, the fastening strap assembly of the presentapplication may be applied in any foam articles that are produced byfoam molding process.

Because the fastening strap assembly of the present invention comprisesthe unique structural features such as the fishbone-shaped fasteningmember, the laterally stretchable/compressible substrate, etc., thefastening strap assembly of the present invention possesses afunction/advantage that existing prior art fastening straps do not have,that is, the fastening strap assembly of the present invention can bearbitrarily bent/curved sideway, as shown in FIG. 10. This feature ofbending/curving sideway is a feature that the existing prior artfastening straps do not posses and the sideway bending/curving functionis a function that the existing prior art fastening straps are unable toperform. Because the fastening strap assembly of the present inventionhas this unique sideway bending/curving characteristic, the fasteningstrap assembly of the present invention is not only applicable to foamarticles having straight bonding grooves, but also applicable to foamarticles having curved bonding grooves with different curvatures anddifferent curving orientations directly and without any additionalprocessing, such as cutting, to the fastening strap assembly, as shownin FIG. 9. Therefore, the fastening strap assembly of the presentinvention is a creation that has a great industrial applicability.

Although the present invention has been described above according to thepreferred embodiments thereof, this does not mean that the scope of thepresent invention is limited to specific structures and operation stepsdescribed above. In fact, there exist various modifications andvariations under the principle and spirit disclosed above. For instance,in the above described embodiments, the fastening parts of the fasteningmember extend out laterally from either sides of the central rib in asymmetric manner, however, in other embodiments, the fastening parts ofthe fastening member may extend out laterally from either sides of thecentral rib in an asymmetric way, for example, in an interlaced way.Additionally, in the above-described embodiments, the fastening parts ofthe fastening member are illustrated in a form with rectangular andtrapezoid shape, however, the fastening parts may have other shapes, forexample, the fastening parts may have a semi-circular shape.

It will be apparent to people skilled in this art that manymodifications can be made to the disclosed structures/steps withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. Therefore, it is the intentof the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications ascome within the sprit and scope of this invention.

1. A fastening strap assembly for foam article comprising: asubstantially fishbone-shaped fastening member having an elongatecentral rib and a plurality of fastening parts laterally extending fromeither sides of the rib and longitudinally spaced apart from each other,each fastening part having a plurality of hooks formed on a uppersurface thereof; a laterally stretchable/compressible substrate having afishbone shape substantially the same as that of the fastening memberand being disposed under the fastening member and bonded thereto; and aprotective layer having a fishbone shape substantially the same as thatof the fastening member and disposed above the fastening member to coverthe fastening member, and a magnetic material layer coated on an outersurface thereof, wherein the substrate, the fastening member and theprotective layer are bonded together along a periphery of the fasteningparts of the fastening member and perforations are provided in theprotective layer and magnetic material layer along the bonded peripherythereof.
 2. A fastening strap assembly for foam article according toclaim 1, wherein the central rib has a width W1 and a height D3 measuredfrom a lower surface of the substrate, and D3 is greater than W1(D3>W1).
 3. A fastening strap assembly for foam article according toclaim 1, wherein the substrate is formed from a material that can bebonded with the foam material.
 4. A fastening strap assembly for foamarticle according to claim 3, wherein the material that can be bondedwith the foam material comprises a foam material, a non-woven fabric anda fibrous fabric.
 5. A fastening strap assembly for foam articleaccording to claim 1, wherein the protective layer and the substrate aremade of the same material.
 6. A fastening strap assembly for foamarticle according to claim 1, wherein the substrate further compriseside wings formed at positions corresponding to the fastening parts ofthe fastening member and each side wing has a through hole formedtherein.
 7. A foam article comprising: a foam body; and at least onefastening strap assemblies according to any one of claims 1-6 bonded tothe foam body.